Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

This blogging gig can be a weird vocation. People who, at least in politics, would never give me the time of day drop me hints and tips. I know that in some cases, I am being used, and in other cases (most of them) the information isn’t all that interesting or is something I already […]

When I got word about Ann Kirkpatrick’s official entry into the CD 1 Derby, I realized that I hadn’t heard much about the goings on in the district, which, by the way, is the size of Pennsylvania.
(There is some rule out there that says that any mention of CD 1 has to include a citation […]

The Arizona Capitol Times is reporting that Ann Kirkpatrick has resigned her legislative seat and has announced that she is running against embattled Rep. Rick Renzi.
Kirkpatrick’s replacement, as per state law, will be chosen by the Coconino County Board of Supervisors and must be a Democrat.
Her starting the race this early is an indication that despite […]

I wondered a few weeks back if the speculation about Mary Kim Titla runing for congress was ginned up mostly by folks who thought it was a great idea, but hadn’t spoken to her about it. In fact, one prominent Democrat who had talked her up had even admitted that she hadn’t spoken to her […]

There was a meeting this weekend of county chairs where the CD 1 candidates were discussed. One of the subtexts of the discussion was that there may be too many darned candidates on the Democratic side.
That may be the case, but there are some candidates who have been mentioned only because they have run for […]

I attended the State Democratic Party meeting yesterday. I heard from more than a few folks that I haven’t listed the possible Democratic candidates in CD 1. Yeah, because I haven’t written enough about CD1. I don’t even live in CD 1.
I have two reasons why I haven’t done a post on the candidates in […]

Now, my always reliable sources are giving a new reason for Rick Renzi deciding to stick around a bit longer. Of course, some of these people also told me that he’d be gone on Friday…
Often in these sorts of situations, an office holder will use the resignation as a bargaining chip in plea negotiations. If […]

The zeitgeist both in Phoenix and Washington is that Rick Renzi will be submitting his resignation from the House of Representatives by Friday.
Cool…I got that one out there before Josh Marshall.
A further bit of mitote has it that Ann Kirkpatrick will resign her seat in the legislature early next week and announce her campaign to replace Renzi.

I heard another rumor about a possible candidate in CD1. As you know, there has already been noise from Ann Kirpatrick, an experienced legislator from Flagstaff. Now, another name has surfaced, Mary Kim Titla.
Yes, I know what you are saying: two women runing against each other in a Democratic primary, one is a legislator and one is […]

TucsonMark posted yesterday that Rick Renzi has taken himself out of a program called ROMP. So, my first question was, what the heck is ROMP?
ROMP is the “Regain Our Majority Program.” It was one of the money raising schemes put together by Tom DeLay. Under DeLay, it was actually called “Retain Our Majority Program,” but, […]

Rick Renzi has dropped his membership from his two remaining committees, Financial Services and Natural Resources. This leaves him with, well, no committee assignments.
Any congressional history geeks that can tell me when the last time a member had no committee assignments?
Of course, he did this because of the tremendous pressure exerted by this blog. It […]

There seems to be some noise about getting former Senate President Ken Bennett to run for Rick Renzi’s seat. Geez, the Republicans are talking about this and the guy’s political body ain’t even cold yet. That ain’t a good sign, is it?
Bennett was talked up as a candidate for governor, even John McCain was rumored to […]

With the word “Renzi” looking more and more synonymous with the word “toast,” there is a Democratic candidate making noises: Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick from Flagstaff.
Kirkpatrick has already met with various pooh-bahs from both the DCCC and Arizona’s congressional delegation, and people have been supportive (but short of outright endorsement, of course). Some talk even suggests […]

There are a few, believe it or not, Republican activists and poohbahs that talk to me. One thing that I’m hearing from a few of them is that the CD 8 and CD 5 seats will be easilly retaken by them.
I don’t think it will be that easy in either race, but please guys, keep […]

Political entrail reader Larry Sabato, of whom I have it on high authority has read this blog at leat once, has a stunning prediction about the election from his “Crystal Ball”:
[T]he Crystal Ball cannot identify a single election for Senate, House or Governor in which a Republican is likely to succeed a Democrat in office.
Of […]

Yesterday’s Republic featured a story on the Rick Renzi controversey that implied that the whole thing was a dirty trick from the Ellen Simon campaign. Never mind that this has been investigated for months, they asked Renzi and his lawyer, former Attorney General Grant Woods, and they assured the Republic that this is being done […]

So, both the Washington Post and the Associated Press have stories out about the federal investigation of Rick Renzi’s land swap. This morning, a story about the deal appeared in the Arizona Republic. My question is, why does it seem the Republic is the last to know?
Last week, the Republic issued a fawning endorsement of […]

Okay, the story I put up about Rick Renzi the other day that a bunch of you said I was wrong about? Well…I was wrong about one thing, it is not an indictment, but an “inquiry.”
Apparently, the AP has the story now. I couldn’t find where it has been posted, but Renzi has apparently hired […]

This has already made an appearance on a couple of other blogs. I actually had this yesterday but, silly me, I wanted to confirm it first. This means I didn’t get to break the story.
Why must I insist on being ethical?
Here is the story that is going around. The US Attorney’s office has information that […]

I talked to a friend of mine in DC that regularly meets with movers in the DCCC and other Democratic affiliated groups that target congressional races.
He was very excited about Ellen Simon, and I said, well, good, since the D-Trip seems to have abandoned Harry Mitchell.
“What? What are you talking about?”
I told him that I […]